ICE officer who fatally shot Mexican man in Houston was not wearing body camera
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on Tuesday was not wearing a body camera because officers in that field office were not yet equipped with them, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.
The officers in Houston “had not been issued body-worn cameras due to back-to-back Democrat shutdowns,” the spokesperson said, blaming a series of government funding lapses that arose when Congress failed to pass measures to fund department and agency operations. There was a 43-day government shutdown in late 2025, as well as a separate 76-day DHS shutdown that started in February and ended in April. The spokesperson said that the shutdown interrupted the body camera procurement process for ICE field offices.
The spokesperson went on to say that half the field offices are now equipped with body cameras, and the other half are expected to receive them in the next 60 days.
Salgado Araujo, who lived in the U.S. for decades, was driving a crew to a homebuilding site when he was killed, his family and a Texas congresswoman said Wednesday. His son said he had been working toward securing legal status in the U.S. after neglecting to do so for years.
DHS alleged in a statement Tuesday that Salgado Araujo was shot after he ignored “multiple verbal commands” and attempted to ram an officer who fired his weapon in self-defense. ICE officers were targeting him because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to the department, which oversees ICE. Houston firefighters said Salgado Araujo was struck in the abdomen, and then his car hit an ICE vehicle.
He was taken to the hospital but died of his injuries, according to DHS.
Federal officials have not released video or images showing the shooting or damage to the vehicles.
The DHS spokesperson said in Thursday’s statement that providing ICE officers with body cameras is a priority, particularly because “our officers are facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them,” adding that the restoration of “historic funding” would provide ICE with necessary resources, “including body cameras.”
Asked whether ICE agents had been specifically targeting Salgado Araujo, DHS said Thursday that officers had been surveilling a property where they had previously observed two white vans.
“On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop,” the department said.
Salgado Araujo had no criminal record and was close to obtaining a work permit after living in the U.S. for more than three decades without legal status, his family has said.
The Harris County District Attorney’s office said it would conduct an investigation into the shooting. The office is consulting with local prosecutors in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, to learn how they have navigated investigations into federal immigration agents, spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre said.
“Although access to key evidence remains under federal control, we are pursuing investigative avenues available to us and will conduct a review of any information we collect within our reach,” Lemaitre said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.
Three men, including Salgado Araujo’s brother, were detained by ICE during the fatal traffic stop, according to Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, who has been communicating with their families.
LULAC has yet to obtain video footage that clearly shows what happened during the moments of the shooting and has offered a reward of $5,000 for information from witnesses, Proaño told AP. The position of Salgado Araujo’s van and ICE vehicles has obstructed security camera footage LULAC has reviewed, he added.
“It’s going to make it even more difficult to find the truth in all this,” he said.
